14% voting recorded in Rajasthan LS polls (10 a.m.)

Fourteen per cent voting was recorded in Rajasthan on Monday in the first three hours of polling to the state's 12 constituencies in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, according to officials.

Voting began at 7 a.m. for the Shri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur seats.

As of 10 a.m., the highest voter turnout was recorded in Jaipur Rural (15.56 per cent), while the lowest was in Jhunjhunu (12.54 per cent).

Ganganagar recorded 15.43 per cent while the turnout in Bikaner, Churu, Sikar, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur was between 13 and 14 per cent.

A total of 134 candidates are in fray on these seats which include 12 women while around 2.30 crore voters are using their right to vote, said Chief Electoral Officer Anand Kumar.

Jaipur has the highest number of candidates, while the lowest was reported in the Dausa parliamentary seat.

Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore cast his vote at a polling booth in the capital Jaipur on Monday morning. He was accompanied by his wife Gayatri.

An Olympian silver medallist and a two-time Commonwealth gold medallist in shooting, Rathore, is the sitting BJP MP from the Jaipur Rural seat.

He is in the fray against Congress' Krishna Poonia, who is herself a 2010 Commonwealth gold medallist discus thrower. She is also a first-time sitting MLA from Sadulpur in Churu district.

Polling will continue till 6 p.m.

--IANS

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